Update: After this story published, the Mayor LaToya Cantrell and Festival Productions issued statements.

“The findings in the OIG report concern events prior to our term in office, and going forward, the current administration is committed to ensuring that appropriate policies are in place," Cantrell spokesman Beau Tidwell said.

“Jazz Fest is currently reviewing the Inspector General’s recent report,” Festival Production spokesman Matthew Goldman said. “As always, the festival works closely with the city to comply with all municipal policies and regulations and will follow any forthcoming procedural recommendations.”

Original story follows below.

The company that produces the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival gave hundreds of Jazz Fest tickets to city employees last year, in violation of state ethics laws, the New Orleans Inspector General has found.

The heads of seven City Hall departments in the administration of then-Mayor Mitch Landrieu received the tickets, investigators said in a report released Wednesday (Dec. 5). Quint Davis, CEO of Festival Productions, told the OIG that “Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office/Marlin Gusman” received 16 free tickets, and the office has referred that revelation to the Louisiana Legislative Auditor, the report said.

Investigators concluded that the city received between 284 and 424 free Jazz Fest tickets, and that the majority of employees said they were aware they could not accept them. The investigation recommends that the city discontinue the practice of receiving free tickets, and warned that employees who did so could be subject to fines associated with Louisiana ethics laws.

Jazz Fest and city officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The investigation into City Hall centered on tickets distributed to the directors of Parks and Parkways, Property Management, the Chief Administration Office, the Public Works Department, the Finance Department, the New Orleans Police Department and the New Orleans Fire Department.

The OIG said the distribution of the tickets violated two ethics laws prohibiting payment from nonpublic sources and prohibiting gifts. It also said the ticket distribution was in violation of the Louisiana Constitution’s prohibition on donations.

In addition to the alleged ticket violations, the OIG found that the Parks and Parkways Department “loaned” three gazebos to Jazz Fest last year without signing a hold harmless agreement or charging a rental fee. An assistant director of Parks and Parkways, Timothy Lavelle, told an investigator that Jazz Fest uses the gazebos to sell Jazz Fest programs and that the only reason the department maintained them was “to loan them out to the Jazz Festival every year,” according to the OIG report.

A second employee, senior maintenance welder Steve Meyer, told an investigator that when the gazebos are delivered to the infield track of the Fair Grounds Race Course, he would go to a trailer where a Jazz Fest employee would give him two brown envelopes, the report said. He told investigators that one envelope was addressed to Parks and Parkways Director Ann MacDonald and the other to Assistant Director Lavelle.

A similar arrangement was happening in the property management department, according to former director George Patterson, although Patterson told investigators that a hold harmless agreement was in place for the use of city-owned bleachers and the city was paid for the rental. Patterson said a courier from Jazz Fest would arrive at City Hall with Jazz Fest tickets, and that his office forwarded tickets to former Public Works Director Cedric Grant’s office.

Patterson said it was his understanding that those tickets weren’t distributed, and were forwarded to former Deputy Mayor Scott Hutcheson’s office for return to Jazz Fest. He told an investigator that “this practice has been going on for decades.”

In an interview with the OIG, Hutcheson said that the city does purchase Jazz Fest tickets to staff the mayor’s tent during the festival. When he learned Jazz Fest was also distributing free tickets, and that they were going to Grant, he advised Grant those tickets couldn’t be used and notified City Attorney Rebecca Dietz about potential ethics issues.

When the CAO’s office was contacted about the investigation, Deputy CAO for personnel Courtney Bagneris told investigators that it was her understanding that a deputy director in property management, Ed Sens, was distributing free Jazz Fest tickets, the report said. She said that she also received free tickets in her office mailbox, but that because she knew she couldn’t accept anything of value, she gave away the tickets -- though the document said she couldn’t recall who the recipient was.

One employee, Assistant Public Works Director Allen Yrle, told investigators that he was “appalled” at the amount of free work the city does for Jazz Fest without compensation. Yrle told investigators the city was reimbursed for work performed for film crews, movie sets and Mardi Gras Parades, but not Jazz Fest. As an example, one employee told investigators that the department installed temporary signs for Jazz Fest, and that they are used only for Jazz Fest. When new signs were made, Jazz Fest provided them at no cost, the employee said.

Bureau of Revenue employees told the OIG that their free tickets were used by employees who distribute flyers to vendors about how to remit sales taxes to the city. They also check to make sure that businesses are operating within the scope of their permit and conduct enforcement on unlicensed vendors operating outside the park.

The chief of staff for NOPD Superintendent Michael Harrison told the OIG that most Jazz Fest tickets were used for official business, so that officers could access working stage assignments, but that sometimes Harrison would distribute tickets to clerical and support staff at NOPD. NOFD Chief Timothy McConnell also told the OIG that some tickets were used for official business, and that he distributed other free tickets “to a woman in the community who is a member of one of the Mardi Gras Indian organizations that performs at the Jazz Fest.”

The investigation also recommended that the city stop loaning city property to Jazz Fest at no charge, and establish a credentialing process for employees who need to access the festival for official business instead of relying on free tickets.

The investigation was launched in August 2017 after the OIG received a confidential complaint alleging that Festival Productions “had routinely provided city of New Orleans employees with free admission tickets.”